Human Illustration: Byram Hills Grad’s Dance Classes for Special Needs

Human Illustration: Byram Hills Grad’s Dance Classes for Special Needs: Once again, COVID lockdowns have revolutionized the way we conduct almost all aspects of our lives. With Human Illustration, a virtual platform of livestream and pre-recorded on-demand dance classes, 2016 Byram Hills HS grad Sarah Greene has provided access for people with disabilities to grow artistically.

A recent graduate of Skidmore College, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Honors in Dance, Sarah who is currently enrolled in the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College, has been dancing for fifteen years. Last winter she developed and taught her own dance program for a class of 25 students with special needs at Saratoga Bridges in Saratoga Springs, New York. When Covid-19 hit, her on-site program was cancelled mid-session.

When I returned to Armonk, “I realized that my previous experience at Bridges could be extremely impactful on a virtual platform,” Sarah told us. She responded to the stifling challenges brought about by the virus by creating Human Illustration, “an open and expressive platform for individuals with disabilities to learn in whatever space they are in. ”

Human Illustration’s (HI) 45-minute pre-recorded classes are designed for children ages 7-14 and adults with disabilities and are posted on the website every week. Specifically, HI’s classes are tailored for people with mobile or cognitive impairments or disabilities. Such as people who are hard of hearing or deaf, blind or with low vision, on the autism spectrum or who have neuro-motor impairments.

Each HI class starts with a warm-up that remains relatively consistent for all 12 weeks. “We then move into learning three different combinations. Chair modifications are also included for each combination. The combinations focus on basic ballet steps such as plies, tendus and degages,” Sarah explained. Each class concludes by learning a piece of choreography and a new piece is taught every 4 weeks.

Human Illustration Now Offers Classes in Westchester

Sarah started Human Illustration in August of this year, providing live Zoom, on demand classes for her students from Saratoga Bridges. Their 12-week session recently wrapped up and Sarah provided us with some feedback from her students courtesy of a class survey she conducted. “…Every student in my class said they would sign up again,” Sarah told us. Some of the anecdotal from the students are priceless: “Everything was my favorite and I had a blast,” was perhaps the most expressive of the ones we reviewed.

Set up a Free Zoom Chat Session Now

Sarah is booking new students in our area now and offering a free 15-minute Zoom chat before your first class. You can also schedule a thirty-minute slot for questions or just to chat about the program.

You can check out the HI website here.  Or contact Sarah at 914.806.2595 or email sdgreene16@gmail.com. And you can watch her dance in two films she created.